Published December 02. 2025 02:45PM
A former Parkland School District administrator has pleaded guilty to charges relating to secretly recording a student without his consent and faces a possible jail term of 44-88 years in prison.
Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan said Francis Anonia, 44, of Allentown, is charged with five counts each of intercept communications and criminal use of a communication facility, felony charges; and nine counts each of misdemeanor charges of invasion of privacy.
At a hearing Monday before Judge Robert L. Steinberg, Anonia’s bail was revoked after his plea, after which he was taken into custody.
In addition to the state prison sentence he is facing, Anonia will be required to register as a sex offender for at least the next 15 years and an valuation will be done to determine if he must register for the rest of his life.
His sentencing is scheduled to take place at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 12, 2026.
On April 2, 2024, an investigation began into a complaint made by a ChildLine referral request about Anonia during his time at the Parkland School District.
Holihan said that on Feb. 23, 2023, Anonia’s cellphone had been seized by Allentown police in connection with an investigation surrounding Anonia’s live-in fiancé and former student, William Marshall. Marshall entered a guilty plea to possession of child sexual abuse material and was sentenced to 11½ to 23 months in Lehigh County Jail.
The district attorney said Anonia’s cellphone was not analyzed at that time and Anonia never requested it be returned to him, so the phone remained in possession of police.
He said that during an April 16, 2024, interview with Lehigh County detectives, Anonia agreed to abandon his cellphone.
Holihan said following an April 2, 2024, ChildLine referral and a subsequent press release from Parkland School District, a number of former students and teachers came forward to report inappropriate behavior by Anonia. Authorities received an additional ChildLine referral in late April 2024.
In May 2024, a Court of Common Pleas judge authorized a search warrant permitting investigators to gain access to Anonia’s cellphone.
During that search, authorities discovered Anonia had surreptitiously recorded videos and pictures of a student.